The European Commission has secured close to EUR 15 million for the construction of a section to connect to the Banja Luka - Doboj motorway that is part of the Corridor Vc Motorway project.

“Improved connectivity within the Western Balkans and with the EU is essential for growth and jobs and brings clear benefits to the citizens. The EU has set aside € 1 billion in … grants until 2020 to support the implementation of the Connectivity Agenda and I am proud to say that we kept our commitments,” the head of the EU Delegation and EU Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ambassador Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, said on Wednesday.

Wigemark made the statement during a visit to the newly opened construction site of the Corridor Vc motorway, on the section from the Johovac interchange to the Rudanka interchange, which will connect to the Banja Luka – Doboj motorway.

The investment complements other ongoing and planned investments in the northern and southern parts of Corridor Vc in both entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Wigemark noted that at the sixth EU-Western Balkans summit, to start in Poznan, Poland, on Thursday, the EU would endorse a new connectivity package to fulfil its pledge to the Western Balkans and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“This project is an important step towards closer integration of the whole Western Balkans region in the context of the Connectivity Agenda and will create greater opportunities for economic development, jobs, safer and faster transport and trade flows with the European Union,” the EU Delegation says on its website.

In response to high daily average traffic volumes, Bosnia and Herzegovina has embarked on a multi-billion motorway construction programme, in cooperation with its neighbours. To date, 35% has already been built or is under construction.

Since 2015 the European Union has committed to co-finance EUR 110 million in grants for eight Corridor Vc projects to support the implementation of the Connectivity Agenda in Bosnia and Herzegovina through the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF).

Corridor Vc is a branch of the fifth pan-European corridor and, with a total length of 700 kilometres, connects Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Adriatic Sea. The longest part of the route goes through Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the road also serves as the shortest connection between the eastern and southern parts of Croatia.

The section running through Bosnia and Herzegovina is approximately 335 km long.